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| ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover |
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| Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov | |
| Wednesday, 13 June 2007 | |
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For most users, enthusiasts included, installing a heatsink is a rare occasion. The majority will build a system, upgrade the CPU/video card once, maybe twice, then get a new setup altogether. For them, cleaning a processor is unheard of, but for the more adventurous (and often financially fortunate), removing a thermal material can be a pain. Depending on the paste/pad it can be a difficult, time consuming, and extremely messy procedure.
As the description implies, it comes in two separate bottles. The first contains the initial solvent which is used to remove the thermal material. It smells of citrus and has a bit of an oily quality to it. The second bottle contains a "surface purifier" which is used to remove anything left over. This is a lot thinner in consistency and smells like rubbing alcohol. The bottles shown above are the smallest quantities you can get: 30ml each. A larger kit is also available which has 120ml of liquid per container. There's a good description of exactly what ArctiClean is on their website, so rather than trying to paraphrase an already abridged version, here's what Arctic Silver has to say: Unique 2-Step Process ArctiClean 1 Thermal Material Remover quickly emulsifies and dissolves the existing thermal grease or pad from the CPU and/or heatsink so that it can easily be removed with a clean cloth or paper towel. A few drops of ArctiClean 2 Thermal Surface Purifier and some gentle wiping then removes the remaining residue and inhibits flash corrosion on copper or aluminum. ArctiClean 1 Thermal Material Remover ArctiClean 1 uses a proprietary combination of non-toxic biodegradable solvents to emulsify thermal greases or thermal pads. The citrus and soy based solvents in ArctiClean 1 match or exceed many hazardous and volatile solvents such as fluorinated and chlorinated organic solvents, acetone, MEK (methyl ethyl ketone), mineral spirits, isopropyl alcohol, and toluene. ArctiClean 2 Thermal Surface Purifier The cationic surfactants in ArctiClean 2 remove any residue left by the ArctiClean 1 leaving a pristine surface for the application of a new thermal interface material. It also incorporates advanced flash corrosion inhibitors that minimize the corrosion layer on copper and aluminum allowing for more intimate contact between the thermal interface material and the heatsink. Using ArctiClean 2 With Other Solvents Most solvents and cleaning products leave residue on the CPU and heatsink that negatively affects the performance of any subsequently applied thermal interface material. ArctiClean 1 Thermal Surface Purifier removes the residue of citrus or petroleum based cleaners and inhibits flash corrosion on a copper or aluminum heatsink. Being a hardware reviewer, I constantly swap out heatsinks and I've gone through several tubes of thermal compound over the years so finding a dirty heatsink wasn't a problem. The first candidate was a solid aluminum TaiSol cooler which had Arctic Silver on it previously. It was cleaned a few weeks prior with Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol so most of the compound was already removed. The remainder left a nice dark stain. Below are a few before and after shots.
Before ArctiClean (Previously Cleaned With Isopropyl)
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 15 June 2007 ) |
